EXPANSIVE LEARNING AS A SYSTEM DESIGN METHOD TO LEARN HUMAN-CENTRED DESIGN IN A MULTI-DISCIPLINARY INDUSTRIAL DESIGN AND BUILT ENVIRONMENT SUBJECT

Human-centered design (HCD) implies that its experts disentangle complexity and the unknown through inquiry, participation, experience, and continuous prototyping to achieve better scenarios and solutions. This paper narrates design education experiments in a subject called Human Centred Design Research Methods that test the delivery of design curriculum as a pre-thought finished product with a systemic product service approach where end-users, in this case, students, join in a practice-based model of learning co-creation. Our large cohort is formed mainly by first-year first-semester undergraduate students from three courses in architecture, industrial design, and design and technology. The subject also attracts undergraduates from engineering, construction management, and master’s level, and undergraduates from other faculties like business, humanities, and science. The project for the semester is a post-occupational review of the same building where we run our classes; a new state-of-the-art vertical campus named the Engineering Innovation Hub (EIH). It is said the building is the most technologically advanced in the west of our city. Once a project is finished and launched to the public, it is normal to measure to what level architectural, design, and engineering outcomes meet occupants’ expectations. Yet, no end-users were consulted before or after the design and construction of the building. The semester is divided into three assessments that align with Dreyfus's model of skill acquisition.